CHADD is pleased to offer a special selection of video recordings from the 2021 Virtual Conference on ADHD. Watch on the platform. If available, the handouts from each workshop are also provided. Session descriptions are provided below. A certificate of completion is provided upon completion of watching all of the videos.
Parent Toolbox Includes 9 Video Recordings and Handouts
As is the case with all mental health diagnoses, the conceptualization, assessment, and treatment of ADHD are influenced by cultural and structural factors. To promote accurate assessment and more equitable health care, there must be an appreciation of broader societal narratives and practices. Where people live, work, and play has implications for how they think, feel, and behave. Every major US system has been created and reformed in the context of social injustice. The mental health system is no exception. Mental health professionals may not have personally borne the weight of these forces or may have been privileged to advance in their professions in spite of them. Just as mental health professionals must learn patients’ history and functional impairments to effectively treat their symptoms, they also must learn (or, more accurately, relearn) our society’s history and structural injustices to effectively transform its systems and, in turn, its inequitable outcomes.
ADHD and mindfulness are both often underestimated and oversimplified. ADHD is not specifically about attention or behavior, as it is a wide-ranging disorder that undermines executive function skills responsible for all of life management. ADHD, therefore, can cause anything from chronic stress to long-term health problems, and impacts near every aspect of life. Mindfulness, meanwhile, is not about paying attention or being calm specifically. It grows out of long-term practice and allows us to stay more settled under stress, allowing us to see our lives with clarity and determination, and encompasses both compassion and ethics. Mindfulness develops cognitive traits through direct practice over time and that effort allows us to stay more focused, make better choices, and stick to our best intentions more consistently in how we live, and how we treat other people. While the word ‘mindful’ has been appropriated in many ways, the underlying intention runs deep. Studies suggest brain-based changes in focused attention (even if you have ADHD), stress management, emotional regulation, and even compassion. Those radical changes support all aspects of ADHD care.
Do you live or work with tweens and teens with ADHD who seem to make things tougher than they need to be? The amalgamation of the traits of ADHD with the onset of puberty can create a volatile mix of seemingly impassable obstacles. In this webinar, Dr. Sharon Saline, PsyD. and Coach Kate Barrett ACG, ACC will pull back the curtain and show you how to talk with kids about what’s really going on, reveal opportunities for collaborative solutions and reduce conflict at home and school. After reviewing the biology of ADHD and adolescent brain development, they will explain how to avoid blowouts, improve motivation, repair relationship ruptures, and facilitate emotional regulation both at home and at school. You’ll learn easy, practical tools for transforming stuckness and obstinacy into optimism and cooperation while nurturing resilience. This workshop is geared towards mental health clinicians, coaches, educators, and parents.
Many families struggle with the pressure and anxiety of figuring out how to launch teens with ADHD, learning disabilities, or mental health conditions to life after high school and beyond. While the journey from adolescence to adulthood has always had many issues, it seems particularly daunting for Generation Z. It's hard to know when to support them and when to let go, especially when they struggle with executive functioning challenges combined with other co-occurring conditions. How can you teach them the life skills they'll need to thrive independently? This process begins in middle school and extends into their twenties. In this webinar, Dr. Saline, veteran psychologist and author of “What your ADHD child wishes you knew: Working together to empower kids for success in school and life” and “The ADHD Solution Card Deck” helps you navigate this tricky transition and offers a comprehensive, research-based framework for understanding emerging adulthood. You will learn useful tools to improve self-reliance, strengthen coping strategies to manage the stress of 'adulting’, and assess the risks for anxiety, depression, or substance abuse. She will show you how to work with the ADHD brain--not against it. With the goal of fostering connected independence, Dr. Saline will assist you and the young adults in your life to set themselves up for thriving at college, vocational schools, internships, gap year programs, jobs, etc. She’ll show you how to obtain accommodations with professors, use the resources of the student services office, establish effective daily routines, increase organization and overcome anxiety. You will leave with practical tools to forge a collaborative, successful post-high school path with less conflict and more cooperation.
Fill your Toolbox! Imagine you are taking a road trip and all of a sudden your car breaks down. You pull over carefully to see what’s wrong and discover you blew a tire. But you’ve got this, you learned how to change a tire in driver’s Ed. So you pop your trunk, take out the spare tire and then open your toolbox only to discover ….. that it is empty! As adults, you may not be aware of tools that can help manage ADHD and co-occurring conditions. Dr. M&M will share her favorite free and pay-for tools applicable to personal life, workplace, and higher education to help fill your personal toolbox and apply them to be the best you that you can be!
In the Heat of the Moment: Practical Emotion Management Techniques for the Whole Family Sometimes emotions get really intense in complex families -- for parents, kids, or both! Maybe there’s more yelling than we’d like; or maybe we avoid, procrastinate, deny or shut down. We know we ‘should’ keep things calm and keep kids engaged, but we don’t know how. In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore what’s happening when family members get triggered and offer practical strategies to prevent or manage intense emotions. Whether you’re trying to get kids off of technology, do their homework, go to bed, or just enjoy a family dinner together without a lot of drama, join a practical workshop to help you restore a sense of calm and connection in your home.
In this session, participants will be provided with useful strategies in the college planning process for students with ADHD in order to ensure a smooth transition to college. They will learn about the importance of a “good fit” and why this is critical to increasing the likelihood of a successful college experience. In addition, participants will learn about the range of disability support options available on college campuses and how to determine which colleges can meet the needs of students who learn differently. Participants will learn about the differences between a comprehensive support program and support services and how each addresses an array of learning needs, including ADHD coaching, social support, and tutoring for specific learning disabilities.
Procrastination has a profound impact on people with ADHD. From our combined clinical practice in ADHD-focused psychology and coaching, we recognized that the more traditional emotion-based approaches were insufficient compared to one that focuses more on the organization of imagined and actual action and the role of specific ADHD-related features. In short, it provides a way to remedy the habit of procrastination, safeguarding productivity, and reliably getting things done. Additionally, by utilizing ADHD-specific interventions, we have successfully highlighted ADHD strengths, increasing accessibility. Confidence is then grown out of successful completion of tasks and having a safety net by which people can back themselves and realize their potential.
Your best memories probably don’t start with “There I was, at the computer”. While your child won’t remember yet another day spent in front of the computer, they will always remember the hike that led to a breathtaking view of the valley below or the thundering waterfall that led to a family photo. The outdoors offers a place you can learn to overcome your fears, test your limits, and learn experientially. Nature builds resilience, and adventures can be the basis for extraordinary discussions relating lessons learned outside to deal with practical challenges in our normal lives. This workshop will examine wonderful opportunities to get outside as individuals and as a family and ways to maximize the benefits of those experiences.
